by Janine Schall, University of Texas-Pan American

In the past three weeks I’ve shared a number of books set in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) and written by RGV authors. These books feature the culture and traditions of the mostly Latino, working class population in this geographical region along the Texas-Mexico border.

The border is both a physical and mental construct, present in the lives of all RGV citizens. To the south, a physical barrier is formed by the Rio Grande River and the increasingly militaristic presence of customs agents and border patrol. Continue reading →

by Janine Schall, University of Texas-Pan American

The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) of South Texas is a place of movement and change. As a Midwestern native now living in the RGV, I joined a history of immigrants to the Valley since the mid-1700s. Today emigration and immigration continues as Americans move to the RGV to pursue business opportunities, Mexicans move for economic opportunity and to flee drug cartel violence, and migrant farm workers harvest crops in the RGV in the winter and travel to other agricultural areas in the summer. Continue reading →

by Janine Schall, University of Texas-Pan American

When children see their lives represented in literature, it shows them that those lives are worth representing. This holds special importance when children come from cultures or areas that are historically isolated, overlooked, or oppressed. The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) of South Texas has been all three. Because of its rural and isolated location, in many ways the RGV has had closer connections with Mexico than with the rest of Texas or the United States. Continue reading →

by Janine Schall, University of Texas-Pan American

In 1992 I left my hometown in Indiana and moved 1500 miles away for a teaching job in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) of South Texas. In doing so, I discovered a unique geographic and cultural region of the United States.

The RGV, informally called the Valley by locals, is located at the southern tip of Texas along the northern bank of the Rio Grande River, which marks the border between Texas and Mexico. It is not actually a valley, but a floodplain. Land developers in the early 20^th century called the area “The Magic Valley” in an effort to promote the region to settlers and investors. Originally home to bands of Coahuiltecan Indians, the Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive in the area in approximately 1750. The area remained under Spanish control until 1836, when it became part of the new Republic of Texas—at least according to the Texans. Continue reading →